We have to WALK? (DaftDeviant)

[Anonymous]

"So...any clue as to where we're going?"

He tried a smile as well, but it's hard to smile when you're wrapped in bandages. He sighed again.

"Or, for that matter, any clue as to what's gonna happen? I mean...future's are uncertain, but...I mean, say you do manage to find a cure for me. I kidnapped you. You have every right to send me to the bounty office and get a fat check for it. If your family...sorry...um...if you have no other means of living, that would hardly be the worst way out for you..."

[Anonymous]

“I…I know we are going to the south. I’ve been following Simon, hoping that he knows where he is going.� She whispered to him, seeing the attempt at a smile, but knew it would be hard with the bandages.

When he asked about what they were going to do, she bit onto her lower lip, and turned to look in the completely opposite direction of Crimson to stare off at the vast grasslands. After a few minutes, she shrugged her shoulders and inhaled.

“My parents won’t be there…Arca won’t be there.� She shut her eyes, fighting off the images of what had happened, replacing it with images of blackness, darkness, nothing. “I know, and believe me, I considered that option for a long, long time. I thought about it, and thought about it, and a part of me still wants to turn you in Crimson. Because maybe, maybe if you hadn’t taken me this wouldn’t have happened. And if it still had happened, I would have died with my family. I would rather have that, I would have rather died with them, to have gone through this.� Her words were harsh, but she was quiet.

“I’m sorry Crimson. I am. But, I’m going to go south. I’m going to go with Simon, I’m going to find a cure. I don’t owe you anything, or I shouldn’t owe you anything, but I am going to help you.� She whispered, picking at a few blades of grass.

[Anonymous]

He was silent for a long while, processing it for a long time, his breaths even--interruped by a few ragged coughs. He answered again, simply, but with a great deal of power in the single word.

"Why?"

[Anonymous]

April turned her head to look at him, confusion in her eyes at his simple question. Why? Well wasn’t it…no…no it wasn’t obvious, and she wasn’t even sure she had an answer for him. But, she’d try.

“Because I can, Crimson. I won’t hold a grudge against you for doing what you did. I’m not that sort of person. You helped me in Arca, you died there trying to do something. I…I don’t know. I want to. I couldn’t live with myself if I turned around and walked back. If I knew I left you dying. How selfish of a person would I be?� She asked and shook her head, shivering a moment with the silence. “Because I care, Crimson. Because it would break my heart a thousand times to see you die and stay dead.� She nodded with her answer as she shut her eyes and pressed her forehead to her knees.

“Look, it doesn’t matter. Stop asking so many questions.� She finally snapped out to him. “You’re hurting your throat, and you’re coughing. So stop talking.� She demanded of him, turning her head to look over at him, pushing her blonde hair from her face to rest along the length of her back.

[Anonymous]

He was smiling a sly smile, a shadow of his former self returning. He lifted his hand and poked her playfully on the nose, his hand falling limply back to the ground. He chuckled again, grunting as he tried to move to a better position.

"You're cute when you're angry. I do believe you were supposed to be cleanin' me up, remember? These bandages won't change themselves..."

[Anonymous]

April waved her hand at his as he poked her on the nose, scrunching her face up in protest. She turned and let her knees unbend as she heard him and sighed. He had a point.

“I’m not angry.� She retorted, before looking over to Simon. She pushed herself to her feet and slowly walked over, her sore muscles protesting as she grabbed some of the spare clean bandages Simon had bought from the caravan, and then moved back over to sit beside Crimson.

“Come on, sit up. I’m not going to hold you up. You’re dying of a cough, not of back problems.� She grinned towards him, the grin nearly reaching those image scarred eyes. She rested the bandages in her lap as she waited for him to sit up, and she grabbed the pile of herbs.

“I’m not exactly sure what herbs do what, so I’m hoping you know a bit about them.� She made sure to tell him, giving a faint laugh as she shifted through the piles of plants in her lap.

[Anonymous]

"I have found..."

He groaned, slowly moving his arms to grip and push off the ground.

"That I am miraculously cured..."

He let out a grunt, straining with exertion as he picked himself up, coughing violently, but managing to sit up high enough to rest on his elbows. He was about even to her sitting face now.

"When given healthy amounts of aphrodesiacs."

[Anonymous]

April winced as she heard him groan as he pushed himself to a half sitting position. When he began to cough she sighed and reached forward to gently help him up to a sitting position, if he accepted her help.

“Come on. You’ll only be sitting for a few minutes.� She gave a sigh as she began to unwind some of the clean bandages, not even knowing where to start on his old ones.

“What are those?� She asked him, before handing him the pile of herbs and dropping them into his lap. Once she had done that, she reached forward and began to unwrap the bandages on his arms, figuring she would start there.

“Tell me what herb does what, and I’ll go from there.� She told him, pushing herself to her feet. She wet a rag in the water, and then moved to sit in the same seat, and if he allowed, she would begin to clean away the dried blood of his injuries.

[Anonymous]

"I'm a pirate, dammit...I know seaweed, not some...oh, those are Indigo Leaves. They give you a hallucingenic effect. You will see shit you ain't never-OW!"

He winced as she pulled a bandage off, revealing a growing sore on his left arm. It wasn't bad yet--it looked more like a really bad blister, but no doubt it was worse under the skin. The size was alarming too--soon it would be as big as his arm...and basic anatomy states that rotting flesh in the middle of an arm tends to result in said arms falling off. He stared at it soberly.

"Water. Water seems to help slow down the effects. Freshwater is hard to find at sea...hence my bad reaction earlier..."

[Anonymous]

April reached her hand forward and snatched those Indigo Leaves away from him, tossing them behind her back with a scowl.

“You’ll be having none of that!� She snapped at him, before she immediately quieted, having pulled the bandage from his arm to reveal the sore. That wasn’t an injury from the city or the monsters there. She thought it was just the cough…just the cough.

“Crimson…� She whispered out, clenching her jaw from the stinging sensation in the corner of her eyes. No, no she’d done enough crying earlier. After a few moments of gaining her composure, she swallowed heavily and pushed herself to her feet, grabbing the rag she had been using. After soaking it thoroughly with water from the lake, she walked back over and rested it along his arm, pressing her hand against it firmly. She didn’t say anything else. What could you say to a man that was rotting from the inside and out?

[Anonymous]

He was morosely quiet, that odd, calm smile playing across his face--the kind of expression he wore when he was deep in thought. He looked up at her, his expression finally reflecting what he must have felt--a cold, weatherbeaten expression of a man close to losing it.

"Y-y'know...some...of them Indigo...leaves...wouldn't be...s-s-such a bad...t...thing."

He was shivering, rocking back and forth now, his body twitching slightly.

"I...is........c...cold...I-I'm freezing...I...I'm burning...I'm on fire...but I feel cold outside...w....warm...no hot...hot inside...."

He looked up at her pleadingly, tears welling in his eyes.

"Y...y'gotta....h...help me..."

[Anonymous]

April stared at him with blank features, contrasting his own look. Her hands along his arm felt the shiver, and when he began to move back and forth, her fingers tightened. As he continued to talk, she turned her eyes away, his words hurting her, paining her to no extent. She looked back over at him to see the tears in his eyes, and when he pleaded for help, her lips parted and she inhaled.

“I…I don’t know what to do Crimson. I don’t know how to help you.� She whispered out, her voice shaking as her eyes burned with oncoming tears once more. She tried to fight them back, but seeing this man being ripped down from a sickness was breaking her heart, piece by piece.

“I can’t help you…I’m trying, but I can’t.� She gasped out, before she reached past him and grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around him, trying to at least keep the outside warm. She gasped again as she tried to stop any oncoming tears, and tried to curl the blanket around him tightly, rubbing her hands along the outside to create some sort of friction.

“I’m sorry…�

[Anonymous]

He looked up at her, his mouth moving, but no words came out. He shivered under the blanket, staring at her with an odd expression on his face. He moved without warning, darting in close fast, pressing his lips to hers.

He kissed her. A perfectly chaste, almost accidental kiss. It lingered for about five seconds before he broke off, looking at her again, awkwardly.

Then he passed out. And proceeded to vomit on the ground.

[Anonymous]

April nearly fell back as she felt him move forward, her eyes wide before she slowly felt her shoulders relax. Her hands dropped down from his arms, no longer trying to warm him as she thought of how horrible the timing was for this. He was in agony, and she was just as much a zombie as the ones from Arca. But somehow it fit, somehow she felt any other time would have felt uncomfortable, wrong.

And then she felt him fall away from her, his lips part from his, and she looked to see him on the ground. The vomit didn’t bother her anymore, not after everything that had just happened in Arca. She simply stopped herself from shaking so badly, and moved to finish bandaging him up. Each one she did carefully so he wouldn’t wake in pain. Each one she made sure some herb was crushed up, after matching it to the herbs that had been there previously. All the while tears silently fell down her cheeks. She felt horrible, that she was crying when he was the one that dying. She felt selfish for the tears running down her face, and she continued to fix his wounds and bandages, each sore causing another pang of pain in her heart.

[Anonymous]

He was out cold now, and after all this time, the cold, wet dress has transferred the cold and the damp to her, which didn't make things anymore comfortable. It was getting colder too. Crimson had the only blanket.

A flickering light shone nearby. Like fire. Simon must've been awake--he had a fire going.

[Anonymous]

April brushed her hand along Crimson’s shoulder, after making sure the blanket was tight around him. Her eyes turned to look at the light and she knew Simon was up. After once again making sure Crimson was alright, or, well, still alive, she pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the fire near Simon.

“M-mind if I join you?� She asked, her voice a hoarse whisper, her long blonde hair hanging about her face and shoulder in tangled, damp strands. She blinked, the fire dancing along her blue eyes. She looked over to make sure Crimson was alright, before looking back to Simon, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I changed his bandages.� She spoke, her voice still soft, as if Simon’s eardrums would shatter with a louder sound.

[Anonymous]

Simon lit a cigarette on the crackling campfire, taking a long drag and leaning back, sighing. As a guy nearing thirty, Simon was rather young looking. His body wasn't neccessarily muscular, but he had a defined chest, and his job kept him neatly thin. Without his shirt on, and without that grumpy frown he usually wore, he could almost pass for 19.

He looked over at her, grinning sardonically and taking another drag of the cigarette.

"You do know that making out with a sick pirate when you have a hole in your dress isn't a wise choice."

[Anonymous]

April watched him light the stick in silence, keeping her arms crossed over her chest. Around Crimson, she didn’t think it mattered, but she didn’t want to be wearing just this torn dress around this man, so her crossed arms would have to do. At his comment, her lips snapped into a straight line, and without an invitation, she sat down across the fire from him.

“I think that’s none of your business, and that you shouldn’t be noticing such things as holes in my dress.� She snapped out to him, her blonde hair falling forward to frame her face and brush her cheeks.

“Do you think we could move him closer? He’s freezing.� She whispered out, eyeing Simon from across the fire with eyes that were ice when locked on him.

[Anonymous]

"Not that I'm looking to damper any of your lovebirding or whatnot, but I think the cold is what's keeping him alive. Ever see a frozen corpse rot? Heating him up too much will make him rot more. Even if we can cure him, I'm no so sure we can regrow decayed limbs. The heat is bad enough--these frozen nights are almost a godsend for him."

Simon sighed, looking into the fire reflectively.

"I suppose I owe you an apology. We barely know each other, and I'm already treating you like crap."

[Anonymous]

“There’s no love birding. He’s sick, and I’m helping him. It’s nothing aside from two people that need comfort. That’s it.� She mumbled out her excuse, or what she hoped was an excuse, before falling silent. He had a point. The heat would do no good for Crimson, so she supposed he would have to suffer the cold if he wanted to keep his arm, or any other appendage that was rotting.

“Apology accepted.� She muttered, lifting her hands up to run through her damp hair. “I didn’t mean to snap, but, well, after everything…it’s starting to catch up with me.� She whispered out to him, inhaling heavily, before exhaling.

“What now?� She asked Simon, watching him as if he had all the answers.